Key takeaways
Israel Adesanya beat Paulo Costa by knockout at 3:59 of round two in the main event of UFC 253 at the Flash Forum in Abu Dhabi. In the co-main event, Jan Blachowicz beat Dominick Reyes, the division's No. 11, by knockout at 4:36 of round two.
Across the eleven bouts that produced a result, three ended by knockout, two by submission and six on the judges' scorecards — five stoppages in eleven fights. One of the six decisions divided the judges.
The quickest finish belonged to Ludovit Klein, who stopped Shane Young at 1:16 of round one, and two of the five finishes came inside the opening round. The longest was Jan Blachowicz's knockout of Dominick Reyes, 9 minutes and 36 seconds in. End to end, the eleven fights filled one hour and 59 minutes of cage time.
The main card finished at the higher rate: three of five, against two of the six below it. Ludovit Klein (knockout, round one) and Juan Espino (submission, round one) all closed before the judges were needed.
Four ranked fighters appeared, and three of them were in the top two bouts. The only other ranked name was Brandon Royval, No. 4 at flyweight.
